Thenumberofvehiclesin the valley during the last two decades has increasedninefold,and reached 922,900 in total during 2015, according to the Department of Transport Management inNepal. News about Air Pollution, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times. Hemraj Bhattarai is agraduate student from University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, and is currently working on air pollution issuesat Kathmandu Center for Research and Education, Nepal. Air quality in the capital has deteriorated recently but average pollution readings were not available. Nepal, especially Kathmandu, in the current situation, is observing rapid urbaniz says that 100% of the population in India lives in areas where PM2.5 levels are higher than the WHO Air Quality Guideline. ? Moreover, Kathmandu is ranked as one of the most polluted cities in Asia:according to the airvisual.com, Kathmandu is the seventh most polluted city. Furthermore, the life expectancy in the Kathmandu Valley is four years less than that of other Nepalese regions. Barun Poudel, a senior meteorologist at the Meteorological Forecasting Division, says that the chances of pollution travelling as far north as Kathmandu from Indian cities are slim, but that Nepali cities bordering India have already seen some impacts. Air Pollution in Nepal's Kathmandu Valley - The Borgen Project When you can frame the problem in terms of how many people are dying and how much productivity is lost, then it becomes much more urgent.. Smog has blanketed huge swaths of Nepal as air pollution in the Himalayan country soared to hazardous levels. It is now causing heart attacks, kidney diseases, osteoporosis and dementia. Air pollution has been a major problem of 21st century for both developed and developing world. Health alert must be imposed on everyone as everybody is prone to experience more serious health effects. , Change the direct speech to indirect speech; She said, "I am going to London today". The Kathmandu Post : Find the latest breaking news from Nepal, opinion & analysis on Nepali politics, business, culture & arts, sports, movies, food & travel, books, education, auto & more at kathmandupost.com Pollution from India unlikely to reach Kathmandu, but Nepal needs to Plastic pollution in oceans and other bodies of water continues to grow sharply and could more than double by 2030, according to an assessment released on Thursday by the UN Environment Programme ( UNEP ). Ocean pollution poses a clear and present danger to human health and well-being, according to a new study from an international group of researchers. A general view of a street during a smoggy day as the government has orderedschoolsto close for four days after the air pollution climbed to hazardous levels, forcing millions of students to stay home across the country, in Kathmandu, Nepal March 30, 2021. Photo Courtesy: Department of Environment/Air Quality Montoring, President candidate Poudel reaches RSP office seeking votes, US, Russia hold highest-level talks since Ukraine invasion, Scathing report on Nepal's security controls, In Pictures: Air Pollution continues its grip over Kathmandu Valley, China acknowledges Sino-Indian brawl at Galwan Valley from last year for the first time, Covid vaccination drive in Nepal could be affected with Indian govt halting AstraZeneca export. Donate to The Ecologist and support high impact environmental journalism and analysis. The guidelines recommend new air quality levels to protect the health of populations, by reducing levels of key air pollutants, some of which . Get access to nearly 50 years of journalism at the Ecologist Archive. Most make various performance claims based on lab tests but factors like the masks fit play important roles. Students participate in activities such as program evaluation and monitoring, public health surveillance, program development, risk assessments and analysis, development of policy briefs . A new disease caused solely by plastics has been discovered in seabirds. Air pollution is a silent killer and while it is difficult to quantify its heath impact, hospitalisation due to serious respiratory diseases has increased sharply in recent years, says chest specialist Raju Pangeni at HAMS Hospital in Kathmandu. The rapid use of fossil fuels, increase in deforestation, unstable use of natural resources, overuse of pesticides and other chemicals, sewage and wastewater, nuclear waste, industrialization, urbanization, use of plastics and a lot more factors contribute to environmental pollution. Al Jazeera Centre for Public Liberties & Human Rights. Education ministry spokesman Deepak Sharma said about eight million students have been affected by the closures. It has a negative impact on various environmental aspects which directly or indirectly affect the quality of human health. Change to compound, We took a tour of the most amazing Chateau during our holiday, which we discovered . by accident.a. PM2.5 levels of 403.72 g/m3 were recorded at 7pm on November 4 in Nepalgunj, the highest for the country in the past week. News article on environment pollutation in nepal to be published in Scavengers help keep world clean, but left to plead for CO Canadian teacher with size-Z prosthetic breasts placed on paid leave, What's next for Buster Murdaugh after dad's murder conviction, life sentence, Murdaugh son collapsed outside court after sitting stone-faced through dad's 6-week murder trial: source, Tom Sandoval breaks silence on Ariana Madix split amid cheating claims, Kelly Osbourne posts first photo of baby son as he hangs out with uncle Jack, Greys Anatomy alum Isaiah Washington retiring from acting: The haters have won, Max Scherzer's first look at the new pitch clock, Kellyanne Conway and George Conway to divorce. No: 289512/78/079 VAT No: 610271654 Editor Ashok Silwal Email nepalnamcha@gmail.com, Copyright 2023, , All Rights Reserved | Designed with. The 24-hour average level of PM2.5, fine particulate matter that can reach deep into the lungs, was 214 micrograms per cubic metre in the upscale area of Bhaisepati in Kathmandu on Sunday, Department of Environment data showed. When will women lead big political parties? Dust from construction works, exhaust from old, poorly maintained vehicles and smoke from coal-burning brick kilns blend in a murky haze that hangs over the ancient city of four million people, raising the risk of cancer, stroke, asthma and high blood pressure, experts say. News from Indian environment including wildlife like tiger, lion, elephants. Air pollution has had a massive impact on Nepalese people. Ltd. Mhepi-16, Kathmandu, Nepal Company Reg. AQI level between 0-50 is Good, 51-100 is Moderate, 101-150 is Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups, 151-200 is Unhealthy, 201-300 is Very Unhealthy, and anything above 301 is regarded as Hazardous. And with reports of Indias north and its capital New Delhi struggling with extreme air pollution, Sunil wonders how much worse the air will get this winter. And residents of the capital who smoke get a double whammy. Taking action to tackle the pollution in Nepal The rapid use of fossil fuels, increase in deforestation, unstable use of natural resources, overuse of pesticides and other chemicals, sewage and wastewater, nuclear waste, industrialization, urbanization, use of plastics and a lot more factors contribute to environmental pollution. Subsequent increase in number of vehicles is one of the main culprits of air pollution [ 33, 34 ]. ? But public outrage does not seem to translate into action to clean up the air. In Nepal and Kathmandu the annual premature death due to air pollution hit37,399 and 9943 respectively,according to aRepublica news report published on 23 November 2019. International breweries are polluting Nepalese rivers I dont remember this level of pollution in Kathmandu in the past, Khadka told Reuters. The World Health Organisation (WHO)s guidelines state that AQI should be below 35, and the concentration of particles below 2.5 microns should be below 25 g/mover a 24 hour period. At a time when Kathmandus, AQI was hitting record highs on Tuesday morning, with 438, the New Delhi suburb of Noida recorded less than 151 (. Trans-boundary pollution can affect our air quality too as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, connected to Nepal, are also polluted. According to Poudel, the pollution level in the border towns of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar can slightly influence pollution along the border area. This indicates, around a quarter of the total deaths due to air pollution in Nepal are in Kathmandu. Q : Only continent in the world without a desert is. What's in the Air of Nepal? Filling Gaps in Pollution Data Minnesota moves to crack down on catalytic converter thefts | AP News Environmental news, a monthly report on Global - Warm Heart Worldwide But so far, the government has done almost nothing to control air pollution.. Environmental Issues and pollution in Nepal - Earth's Edge The Biden Administration will make $250 million in grants available to develop strategies to cut climate pollution, the Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday. The 3rd leading cause of death in low and middle-income countries is COPD, 5th leading cause is Lower Respiratory Infections and seventh is Diarrheal diseases. Southeast Asia has emerged as a hot spot for plastic pollution . The polluter pays' principle was introduced in 1972 in order to address this issue. Colorifix thinks bacteria can fix fashion's water pollution problem We need to be extra careful because by the time we reach peak pollution levels, we will be gearing up to launch Visit Nepal 2020, said Tuladhar. Chandan Kumar Mandal is the environment and migration reporter for The Kathmandu Post, covering labour migration and governance, as well as climate change, natural disasters, and wildlife. The environment has been in a better condition. We are mainly responsible for the destructive changes in the environment. The transport sector further contributes 30 percent of PM10 particles, which are smaller than a grain of sand and can easily pass through the hairs in our nose, second only to the construction sector, which emits 53 percent of the total PM10. Air pollution is a chronic problem in the rapidly growing capital city of Kathmandu and an additional headache for the government that is struggling to contain the coronavirus pandemic. According to AQ AirVisual, a Swiss group that collects air-quality data from around the world, the annual average PM2.5 level for Kathmandu in 2018 was 54.4 micrograms per cubic meter (g/m3), an increase from 45.9 g/m3 in 2017. Of course, a masks effectiveness depends on how well it fits on the face, but a simple, disposable surgical mask can be more cost-effective than those fancy looking expensive ones. Dust from construction works, exhaust from old, poorly maintained vehicles and smoke from coal-burning brick kilns blend in a murky haze that hangs over the ancient city of four million people, raising the risk of cancer, stroke, asthma and high blood pressure, experts say. Independent lab testing finds elevated level of chemical of concern in People must stay safe indoors and not come out except for emergencies, the health ministry said. Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal, has a population of around3.5 million. Air pollution crisis in South Asia causing massive loss of pregnancies Similarly, household air pollution (HAP) was over 18-folds higherduring our survey in 2007 than the WHO recommended guidelines . There are cloth masks and surgical ones, some are disposable but many use replaceable filters. The report highlights dire consequences for health, the economy, biodiversity and the climate. In this level of air quality, everyone may begin to experience health effects; members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects. Nepal closes schools as air pollution hits alarming levels - Al Jazeera Arjun Khadka, 65, who owns a grocery store in Kathmandu, said he experienced itching and burning sensations in the eyes and nose which could be due to pollution. editors@nepalitimes.com | www.nepalitimes.com | www.himalmedia.com | Tel: 01-5005602 There is a proportionately very high consumption of gasoline and diesel inthe valley. On Wednesday, the daily average PM 2.5 level for the western city clocked around 200, which is deemed unhealthy. Phil Murphy but which has yet to take full effect should prevent the . The COP27 sponsor's products were the most commonly found items by volunteers researching plastic pollution. Moreover, Kathmandu is ranked as one of the most polluted cities in Asia: according to the airvisual.com, Kathmandu is the seventh most polluted city. Poor air quality in Kathmandu and inside rural homes due to smoky kitchen fires kill far more people across South Asia than SARS-CoV-2. This indicates, around a quarter of the total deaths due to air pollution in Nepal are in Kathmandu. Ironically, World No Tobacco Day falls on 31 May, just four days ahead of Environment Day. In Press, Journal Pre-proof, Available online 25 February 2023. As we see the readings from air quality metres located in various stations of the country, we find that Simara has the poorest air quality. To The Editor The . - . On hand was Marcia Bernicat of the US Bureau of Oceans and International Environment and Scientific Affairs. We've received your submission. Similarly, one-fifth of the total diesel is used inKathmandu. The views expressed in the articles published on this site may not necessarily reflect those of the trust, its trustees or its staff. These two are just representative examples of millions of people who are directly or indirectly affected by dust, a burning issue of the twenty first century. Similarly, the hotel business (khaja ghar) of Ram Karki has also slowed down majorly due to road dust emission.